RIZAL ON O-SEI-SAN. Rizal’s great love for O-Sei-San is attested by the hero’s diary.

On
the eve of his departure, he wrote in his diary: “Japan has enchanted me. The beautiful
scenery, the flowers, the trees, adn the inhabitants – so peaceful, so courteous, and so
pleasant. O-Sei-San, Sayonara, Sayonara! I have spent a happy golden month; I don’t know
if I can have another one like that in all my life. Love, money, friendship, appreciation, honors
– these have not been wanting To think that I m leaving this life for the uncertain, the
unknown. There I was offered an easy way to live, beloved and esteemed. . . . . To you I
dedicate the final chapter of these memoirs of my youth. No woman, like you, has ever loved
me. No woman, like you has ever sacrificed for me. Like the flower of the chodji that falls
from the stem frsh and whole without falling leaves or without withering – with poetry still
despite its fall – thus you fe.. Neither have you lost your purity nor have the delicate petals of
your innocence faded – Sayonara, Sayonara!
You shall never return to know that I have once more thought of you and that your image
lives in my memory; and undoubtedly, I am always thinking of you. Your name lives in the
sight of my lips, your image accompanies and animates all my thoughts. When shall I return
to pass another divine afternoon like that in the temple of Meguro? When shall the sweet
hours I spent with you return? When shall I find them sweeter, more tranquil, more pleasing?
You the color of the camelllia, its freshness, its elegance. . . . Ah! Last descendant of a noble
family, faithful to an unfortunate vengeance, you are lovely like. . . Everything has handed!
Sayonara, Sayonara!” With this tenderly tragic entry in his own diary, Rizal bade farewell to
lovely O-Sei-San.
SAYONARA, JAPAN. On April 13, 1888, Rizal boarded the Belgic, an English steamer, at
Yokohama, bound for the United States. He left Japan with a heavy heart, for he knew that
he would never see this beautiful “Land of the Cherry Blossoms” and his beloved O-Sei-San.
Truly, his sojourn in Japan for 45 days was one of the happiest interludes in his life
BELGICO-SEI-SAN AFTER RIZAL’S DEPARTURE. As everything on earth has to end, the
beautiful romance between Rizal and O-Sei-San inevitably came to a dolorous ending.
Sacrificing his personal happiness, Rizal had to carry on his libertrian mission in Europe,
accordingly, he resumed his voyage, leaving behind the lovely O-Sei-San, whom he
passionately loved. Broken-hearted by the departure of Rizal, the first man to capture her
heart, O-Sei-San mourned for a long time the loss of her lover. Eventually, she became
resigned to her fate, cherishing unto death the nostalgic memories of her romance with Rizal.
About 1897, a year after Rizal’s execution, she married Mr. Alfred Charlton, British Teacher
of chemistry of the Peers’ School in Tokyo. Their wedlock was blessed by only one child – a
daughter named Yuriko. After many years of teaching, Charlton was awarded by the
Japanese governmentwith an imperial decoration – Order of Merit, 5th Class. He died on
November 2, 1915, survived by O-Sei-San, whose real name ws Seiko Usui, and their
daughter Yuriko. This daughter later married Yoshiharu Takiguchi, son of a Japanese
senator. Mrs. Charlton (O-Sei-San), as a widow, lived in a comfortable home in Shinjuko
district, Tokyo, she survived World War II, but her home was destroyed in 1944 by the U.S.
Bombingnof Tokyo. She died on May 1, 1947 at the age of 80. she was buried in her
husband’s tomb at Zoshigawa Cemetery. A Japanese inscription on their tomb reads as
follows: Alfred Charlton, 5th Order of Merit, and wife Seiko
SHINJUKO DISTRICT, JAPAN (PRESENT)
ZOSHIGAWA CEMETERY
1. VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. Despite his sorrowing heart, Rizal enjoyed the pleasant
trans-Pacific voyage to the United States. On board the ship, he met a semi-Filipino family –
Mr. Reinaldo Turner, his wife Emma Jackson (daughter of an Englishman), their children,
and their maid servant from Pangasinan. One day one of the children, a bright young boy,
asked Rizal: “Do you know, sir, a famous man in Manila named Richal? He wrote a novel,
Noli Me Tangere. “Yes, hijo, I am Richal,” repied Rizal In great joy the boy rushed to his
mother, informing her that the famous man is their fellow passenger, she felicitated Rizal,
feeling proud that they were travelling with a celebrity.
RIZAL AND TETCHO. Another passenger which Rizal befriended on board the Belgic was
Tetcho Suehiro, a fighting Japanese journalist, novelist, and champion of human rights, who was
forced by the Japanese government to leave the country, just as Rizal was compelled to leave
the Philippines by the Spanish authorities.
Rizal and Tetcho were kindred spirits. Both were vaiant patriots, implacable foes of injustice and
tyranny. Both were men of peace using their trenchant pens as formidable weapons to fight for
their peoples’ welfare and happiiness. Rizal told Tetcho the story of his life’s mission to
emancipate his oppressed people from Spanish tyranny and of the persecutions which he and
his family suffered from the vindictive Spanish officials and bad friars, causing him to flee to
foreign countries where he ould freely carry on his libertarian actiities. During their intimate
acquaintanceship of almost eight months (April 13-December 1, 1888) Tetcho came to admire
Rizal, whose patriotism and magnificent talents greatly fascinted him and influenced him to fortify
his own crusade for human rights in his own country. On December 1, 1888, Rizal and Tetcho
had their last warm ahndshake and bid each other “goodbye.”
In 1889, shortly after his return to Japan, Tetcho published his travel diary which contained his
impressions of Rizal, as follows: “Mr. Rizal was a citizen of Manila in the Philippines. Age about
27 to 29. Young as he was, he was proficient in seven languages.” ---------------------------------------
----------- “It was in S/S Belgic that we first met. I came to England by way of America with him.
Ever since I had been intercoursing him.” ------------------------------------------------- “Rizl was an
open-hearted man. He was not hair-splitting. He was an accomplished, good at picture, skillful in
exquisite was work, especially.” ------------------------------------------------
After the publication of his travel diary, Tetcho resigned his position as editor of Tokyo
Newspaper, Choya, and entered politics. In 1890 he was elected as member of the lower house
of the First Imperial Diet (Japanese parliament), where he carried on his fight for human rights.
The following year (1891) he published political novel titled Nankai- no-Daiharan (Storm Over
The South Sea) which resembles Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere in plot. Three years later (1894) he
publlished another novel entitled O- unabara (The Big Ocean) which was similar to El
Filibusterismo. Tetcho died of heart attack in Tokyo in February, 1896 (ten months before Rizal’s
execution). He was then 49 years old.